Even the creators of The Americans, the FX series about Soviet undercover spies in the Reagan era, didn’t know that, at the time, a real-life K.G.B. sleeper agent was living nearby. Jack Barsky, who was born Albrecht Dittrich in East Germany in 1949, pretended to be a U.S. citizen while spying for Moscow from 1978 to 1988. When the F.B.I. finally caught up with him—long after the Soviet Union collapsed—Barsky changed sides and worked for American intelligence. He first publicly revealed his many deceptions on 60 Minutes in 2015 and, later, in a 2017 memoir, Deep Undercover. In a riveting new podcast, The Agent, Barsky candidly recounts every twist and bad turn in his career—from his Communist childhood and recruitment at the University of Jena to his life after espionage. Barsky gave the K.G.B. valuable secrets, but it’s the secrets he withheld—from his handlers, wives, colleagues, neighbors, and children—that are truly priceless. (podcasts.apple.com) —Alessandra Stanley

Unless they’re sweeping, fantastical epics, book-to-TV adaptations are hit or miss. Lean too heavy into the source material and you end up with something dry; too liberal an interpretation risks alienating fans of the novel. HBO Max’s Station Eleven, an adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel about a flu pandemic, walks this tightrope with elegance. After the virus kills most of the world’s population, a group of actor-musicians called “the Traveling Symphony” moves between towns of survivors to perform Shakespeare plays. As they bounce around the Upper Midwest, and risk getting sick, the show frequently flashes back to pre-pandemic life. It offers glimpses of times before the outbreak, and the struggles of Kristen (Mackenzie Davis) and Jeevan (Himesh Patel) while carrying on during an endless pandemic. (hbomax.com) —Jacob Robbins

For more than a year, Vogue has put the spotlight on pretty young girls—Lily-Rose Depp, Bella Hadid, Zoë Kravitz—who still wear wired headphones instead of AirPods. Wired headphones became a TikTok trend, and the debate over which Apple product is superior has been discussed, at length, on Twitter. The true answer to the question: neither. It’s AirPods Max, wireless over-the-head headphones. Unlike the other two options, these are noise-canceling—annoying noise, like that from an air conditioner, but they still allow you to hear a noise you might need to hear, like a car horn—hard to misplace, and won’t fall out of your ears. Plus, during the winter they can substitute for earmuffs. ($549, apple.com) —Jensen Davis

Apparently, we’re back in WFH territory. Zoomland. Sweatpants city. Fine, but this time we’re engaging in retail therapy—and not even Omicron can stop us. Now that we’re interfacing with the world from the waist up, again, our sweater situation could use a pivot away from the snuggly knits that dominated the lazy days of late December. It’s time for a little something from Michaela Buerger, the Austrian-born knitwear maverick. Buerger, who now lives in France, draws each design before she and her collective of hand-knitters knit, crochet, and embroider the sweaters. The results are heirloom-like; each cardigan and sweater feels like something one’s great-grandmother might have done, had one’s great-grandmother been wildly talented with a knitting needle. ($510, selfridges.com) —Ashley Baker

Despite these trying times, things are looking very sunny over at Giorgio Armani. Those who are destined for far-flung warm-weather resorts are almost required to snap up a little something from the house’s spring-summer ’22 limited-edition collection. It embraces a casual attitude to dressing—pastel knits, flowy pants, and easy skirts are de rigueur here. Mixing and matching is highly encouraged. We’ll start our purchases with this skirt, which features a geometric jacquard pattern in five soothing shades. A matching top (sleeveless) and cardigan (cropped) are also yours for the taking. For our vacation, we’ll be wearing it with a crisp white button-up or a loose-fitting, tucked-in tee. ($1,995; armani.com) —Ashley Baker

In 2001, for a glowing obituary of Spago’s original location on the Sunset Strip, a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote that “it really existed at the intersection where power, wealth and celebrity met a revolution in American cuisine.” At 19 years old, Spago wasn’t dead—it was moving less than two miles away, and to a bigger location. Known for serving the Who’s Who of Hollywood, such as actresses with tiny appetites, Spago, the reporter insists, actually served delicious food. Gathering 100 recipes from beloved L.A. restaurants, including Spago 2.0, Alison Clare Steingold offers a look at the city as, first and foremost, a place for eating. Recipes range from stereotypical L.A. meals—M Café de Chaya’s vegan chopped salad with tofu ranch—to many Mexican dishes, and from Venice (Superba Food + Bread’s bucatini) to Pasadena (Union’s pork ragu). ($40, rizzoliusa.com) —Jensen Davis